Interesting post. I came to that same conclusion this year in CO in second season. I spotted 2 herds of elk the day before second season this year. It was 2.5 miles as the crow flies between my camp and the elk.
I hiked over there on day 1 and was genially surprised I didnt kill an elk. It started snowing that night and we ended up with ~ 8 inches by Sunday AM at my camp. I hunted closer to camp in the AM in the 30-40 mph wind driven snow.
I arose early on Monday and made the hike back over to the elk. 2.5 hours, up 1200 feet, in what ended up being knee deep snow. By myself. About noon I realized I likely couldn't get an elk out of there by myself in any decent time. It was only ~ 3 miles from camp but the knee deep snow was killing me. The forecast called for snow through Wednesday. First time I ever quit before the end of the season or without a dead elk. It was a hard realization to conclude I couldn't get an elk out of the mountains by myself. I'm still struggling with that whole decision.
